A Quarreling Pair: A Triptych of Small Puppet Plays

Comprising

A Quarreling Pair

Mr Peterson’s Milk

by Lally Katz
Melbourne 2003

And When They Were Good

by Cynthia Troup
Melbourne 2003

Jane Bowles’ play scrutinises the way that spaces, bodies and emotional bonds can harden around habit, becoming subject to harsh fears, and pressured by ineffable impulses towards freedom—especially towards some kind of emotional independence. Mr Peterson’s Milk by Lally Katz and Cynthia Troup’s And When They Were Good were composed as elaborations on the richly ambivalent imagery of A Quarreling Pair. Each was written for two sister characters, perhaps the same ‘quarreling pair’, transposed into different situations that highlight the strange rigidity of the ‘two rooms’ which form the setting for Bowles’ work.